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The Parson’s Umbrella
(1910) United States of America
B&W : Split-reel / 220 feet
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Edison Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company. / © 14 January 1910 by Edison Manufacturing Company [J137403, J137404, J137405]. Released 14 January 1910; in a split-reel with A Warrior Bold (1910) and Troop “B,” 15th U.S. Cavalry Bareback Squad in the “Monkey Drill” at Fort Myer, VA. (1910). / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Edison production number 6574.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 15 January 1910, page ?] We see the vestibule of a little country meeting house on a rainy day and some of the members of the congregation (all colored people) coming out, to find the rain beating down and endangering their good “Sunday-go-to-meeting-clothes.” We see the temptation which the stack of umbrellas in the corner offers, and to which most of them succumb, and then, when the congregation has entirely departed, we see the old parson left to go home in the rain unprotected. He proves to be not without resource, however, for in the next scene he prepares a notice to his congregation, lettered by his own hand, and a piece of comic literature in itself. It intimates that he has a shrewd suspicion who took his umbrella, but will be lenient if it is tossed over his back fence that night. At the evening service this notice is read and posted on the front of the little church. Then in the dead of night we see the borrowers of other people’s umbrellas doing their best to make amends and save their skins, and when the morning dawns and we get a view of the parson’s back yard we see the comic side of Shakespeare’s famous sentence, “Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all.”
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 29 January 1910, page ?] A comedy enacted by colored people which might apply with equal force to white folks. Shakespeare observed many years ago that “Conscience doth make cowards of us all,” and when the parson posts a notice, which is a work of art in itself, regarding the return of his umbrella, the huge pile in his back yard next morning furnishes conclusive evidence of wholesale umbrella appropriations. A good bit of comedy, well acted and satisfactorily photographed.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 5 April 2024.
References: MovPicWorld-19100108 p. 28 : Website-AFI.
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